Fodor's may use your email address to send you relevant information on site updates, account changes, and offers. For more information about your privacy and protection, please review our full Privacy Policy.

Grand Canyon booking issue

I just made El Tovar reservations with US park lodging and was charged an extra 10% on the total bill. Now, I see that Xanterra will book that property for free. Is that correct? I had no idea there were 2 booking agencies when I went on line to book rooms. Lesson learned.

Unfortunately booking with National Park Reservations was a mistake. They are an agency that appears to be the official site for many nationalmparks but they bare not. They charge a booking fee and a cancellation fee.

Yes, Xanterra is the official concessioner for Grand Csnyon and there is no booking fee apart from the charge for the room. You pay one night's lodging up front, billed at the time of booking. If you cancel 48 hours or more in advance, your entire deposit is refunded. There is no cancellation fee unless you cancel too late.

But rpowell cannot cancel through Xanterra the reservation made with National Park Reservations. And it does not appear they want to cancel; just upset about the extra booking fee ( and rightly so). This agency fools a lot of people. The into on the booking and cancellation fees is on the website, but it is not always easy to find.

That's why it's important to guide people to the NPS website so they can link to Xanterra or whatever directly, and not end up on these shameful "lookalike" websites. I'll bet they rake in millions by this sort of fraud.